Josh Boswell isn’t a member of the faculty at IU Southeast. He isn’t a staff member either. Yet he has an office in University Center, he hosts lunch meetings on campus twice weekly, and he has long-term plans for the students of this campus.
Boswell is the campus minister at IU Southeast, an unofficial title and the only one he’ll claim. A minister by education and practice, he volunteers his time at IU Southeast, and it’s a full-time commitment.
“There’s an association of 65 local churches that fund my position,” Boswell said. “I come on as a volunteer for the campus, but get paid through someone else so I can do this full time.
“We’re an official student organization, The Christian Student Fellowship. Our faculty supervisor is Dr. Eric Schansberg. That’s how we get approval to be on the campus as a ministry organization.”
Boswell said IUS needs a campus minister because, “If you look at the student population, they seem to be very interested in spiritual things. The spiritual interest of college students (in general), it’s just off the charts, it’s like 70 or 80 percent of students that are very interested in spiritual things.”
Boswell said he’s on campus as a representative of Evangelical Christians and wants to explain what Evangelical Christians believe and teach about the Bible so others can understand what the Gospel is.
He has even set up opportunities for intentional dialog with people so they are getting a clear understanding of what the Christian message is, because there’s a misunderstanding of what the Christian message is.
“We want to get a fair hearing so that people can respond with the information, actually know what the message is so they can respond positively or negatively… so at least they hear an intelligent articulation of the Christian message,” Boswell said.
Boswell has a three-fold motto that describes how he would like to accomplish that.
First, by connecting students to Christ by, “sharing with them so they have a clear understanding of what the Christian message is.”
Second, by connecting students to the Christian community that’s on campus.
“We like to let them know, you’re not alone, there’re others on campus like you, and to kind of network with those students to build a support network,” Boswell said.
Finally, by trying to connect students to local churches.
“One of the biggest hindrances to college students growing in their Christian faith is, there aren’t a lot of churches that have solid college ministries,” he said.
This is the beginning of Boswell’s third year at IU Southeast. He said the general student population hasn’t seen the growth he’s looking for yet. He said he feels this is because students have not been aware of the organization, so much of his energy is spent getting the word out.
He does this by hosting a free lunch every Monday in the Student Involvement Center, from noon, until the food runs out.
Every Tuesday from noon to 1 p.m., he conducts a Bible study in University Center, room 122, which includes free pizza. There’s also a formal worship service on Thursday evenings at 7:45 p.m. This is held off-campus, at the Christian Ministry Center, located at 615 Park East Blvd.
As he works toward growth on a large scale, Boswell said he has seen growth in the individual students that participate.
“We have seen significant spiritual growth in the students that are involved in the ministry, students… that now have a community to lean on, a support network to go to,” Boswell said. “They come and ask questions of me, they’ll go to their friends that are in the ministry. So the part of connecting students to the Christian community is beginning to work, it’s beginning to help, to happen.”
As for long-term goals, Boswell said he wants to see students who have been participating begin mentoring those who are just coming into the organization.
“What we’d love to see is some of the upperclassmen in a position where they know enough of the Christian faith and they’re strong enough in their Christian faith to be able to take those who aren’t as strong and bring them up in the Christian faith as well,” he said.
“Obviously we’d like to see more students connecting to Christ, more students connecting to the Christian community, in a way that impacts their life, as well as connecting to local churches. Because when they graduate, they’re no longer connected to our ministry, so we want them to have a place to grow in their faith.”
By DARIENNE ARCURI
Staff Writer
darcuri@ius.edu
